Infant depression

Infant depression has been studied as a phenomenon within psychology and psychiatry since the early 1970s. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Health Disorders (fifth edition; DSM-5) eliminated the terminology “disorders usually classified in infancy, childhood, and adolescence” and classified them as neurodevelopmental disorders removing infantile depression as a discrete condition. Pediatric primary care providers (P-PCPs) who provide care to infants need to be familiar with the best available evidence for recognizing signs of infantile depression to avoid missing the opportunity for early recognition of this problem. Recognizing the signs of infant and/or maternal depression affords the opportunity for P-PCPs to implement strategies to intercept negative emotional infant development to positive emotional outcomes. This chapter discusses research on infant depression, signs and symptoms of infantile depression, and provides strategies to enable mothers and other caregivers to actively engage the emotional development of infants throughout the first year of life.